Apparatus for remelting soap



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. C. RALSTON.

APPARATUS FOR REMELTING SOAP.

N0. 328,714. Patented Oct. 20, 1885.

ATTORNEYS.

fvlA PETERS. PholLilhoghpher, Walnglun.. D. C.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. J. C. RALSTON.

. APPARATUS POP. RPMBLTING SUAP.

No. 328,714. Patented Oct. 20, 1885.

. WITNPssBs: 1"" TNVPNTOR: @l/V143 :4i 7 @527% Bgm@ ATTORNEYS.

N. Pneu Pmmumgmphor. wnhingm, n. a

NTThn STATES ATnNT Trina.,

JOHN O. RAIQSTON, OF TOLEDO, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO ROBER" FREELAND, OF BOSTON, MASSA OHUSETTS.

APPARATUS FOR RElVlELTING SOAP.

SPECIFICATION iol-ming part of Letters Patent No. 328,714-, dated October 20, 1885.

Application lrd April 3, 1r85.

T all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN C. ItaLs'roN, of Toledo, in the county of Lucas and State of Ohio, have invented a new and Improved 5 Apparatus for Remelting Soap, of which the following is a full, clear, and eXact description.

The object of my invention is to provide for the much more rapid remelting of soap-scrap or broken soap than can be done with pro- Io cesses and apparatus heretofore used, and to avoid all danger of injuring the soap by preventing the excessive condensation therein of the steam used as a remelting agent, and to provide an apparatus adapted to be worked by unskilled labor, and by use of which the melted soap will be discharged in as good or better condition as when placed therein to be melted.

The invention will iirst be described, and

2o then pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this speciiication, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the iigures.

Figure l is a central vertical sectional elevation ot' a soap-remelting apparatus constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 isla sectional plan view taken on the line x, Fig. l. Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan 3o view with the cover of the melting-vessel removed. Fig. 4C is a sectional elevation of part of the upper compound soap supporting and heating coil and steam-jet of the vessel, and Fig. 5 is an under side view of the same.

3 5 The chief disadvantages in the practical operation of apparatus heretofore constructed for remelting the scraps or broken soap, produced by cutting blocks or masses of soap into bars or shaping the soap into cakes, have been 4o their slowness of operation and the danger of spoiling the soap, which frequently occurs by allowing the discharge of steam for too long a time into the melted soap, which condenses therein to such an extent as to require the soap to be returned to the kettles to be remade. An apparatus of this class which is extensively used, but is open to the abovenamed objections, is shown in a United States Patent granted to Daniel Vhitaker-on the 1st :o day of August, 1876, and numbered 180,688.

Serial No. 161,140. (No model.)

My invention is an improvement ou the said invention described in aforesaid Letters Patent.

The Vhitaker apparatus consists ol" a melting-vessel with a bottom outlet closed by a valve, and provided with a steam-pipe in the form of a ring, perforated to discharge the steam, and held horizontally at or near the bottom ofthe vessel, and above the ring is placed a spiral horizontally-arranged imper- 6o forate pipe-coil, which connects with a vertical coil rising some distance into the meltingvessel, and between the perforated lower ring and the upper heating-coils is placed a diaphragm in the form ot' a sieve. The soap- 65 scrap to be melted is thrown into the upper part of the vessel, and is partially melted by sliding down and between the vertical and Aupper horizontal coils, through which large unmelted pieces of soap fall onto the sieve- 7o diaphragm, which holds them until melted, the melted soap liowing through the diaphragm, and from the bottom of the vessel when the valve is opened. rIhe sieve-diaphragm is necessary in this apparatus, and 7 5 greatly retards the passage of the melted soap therefrom, and it is evident that the steam discharges into the melted soap where it is not needed, and the steam issuing from the ring can only reach the cold hard soap by boiling the duid or melted soap, which damages the soap by condensing into it a considerable amount oi' water, which can be removed only by remaking the soap, thus rendering the remelter useless. 8 5

The drawings represent a preferred construction of apparatus by which I carry out my invention, and which I will describe brieiiy, as follows:

The letter A indicates a vessel or caldron of suitable capacity, and having a bottom tapering toward an outlet, a, which may be closed by a valve or cut-off, B, of any approved construction. The vessel has a removable cover,

C, and a jacket, D.

Inside of the vessel A are set quite closely a series of vertically ranging and communicating coils, E, of pipe,which connect by a pipe,

c, with a horizontally-disposed pipe-coil, F, placed below the coils E, and a pipe, j', at the roo end of coil F connects it in turn with the jacket D, which may have any suitable valved or other outlet, d, for the escape ot' the heat? said coil H and thence to and through the lower coil, I.

The pipes o f the compound coil H l are so crossed or disposed relatively to each other that they together form a tubular gratinghaving interstices too small to allow the hard soap-scrap placed on it to pass through, but permitting free passage of the melted soap through the grating upon the heating-coils below.

The pipes of the compound coil-grating, preferably the lower pipes, I, have formed in them a series of oriiices, as at t, at the under side, (see Figs. 4 and 5,) and these orifices are ot' such number and area that the steam will pass through them in jets and with considera ble force to impinge on the pipe-coils E or E F below.

The operation is as follows: The soap-scrap andbroken soap to be melted are placed in the vessel A upon the compound tubular grating H I, as at L in Fig. l. The cover Gis put on the vessel, and its outlet a. is closed by the cutoft' B. Steam now is admitted under full pressure to the upper soapsupporting tubular grating, H I, and to the lower coils, E F, and the open steam rushing downward from the orifices a', of the grating H I quicklylls the lower part of the meltingvessel A and ascends to the soapscrap on the grating, which latter also gives oti its heat to the scrap, which at once is softened and melts and forces its way through the grating by its'own gravity, aided by the weight of the mass above, and the melted soap l'alls in streams, as at l Z, upon the lower coils, E, toward the outlet a, whichl now is opened,and the jets of steam from the grating impinging on the surface of the downwardlyflowing streams of melted soap force the melted s oaprapidly down thevertical coils E, and through the coil F, the steam-jets acting to prevent the formation of a hard, dry, soapy crust on the lower coils and keeping them clear, so that their full heat-radiating eticect may be utilized in drying out of the downflowing melted soap any moisture it may have absorbed by contact with the open steam by which it was melted, and a continuous stream of remelted soap issues from theI outlet a, and with it the steam, which reaches the air in an uncondensed` state, and the steam does not condense to any hurtful degree in they soap, which is discharged at the proper vhighest market value for the materials em ployed in making it, and some kinds of soap are materially improved by the remelting process.

It is evident that the soap-melting is practically continuous` and the apparatus needs no further attention than to keep the vessel full. ot` scrap above the grating H I, and to handle the melted soap in the usual manner as it passes from the melting-vessel, which may easily be done by unskilled labor.

The distinguishing features of my invention maybrie'tly be stated as follows: The continuous use of open steam to melt the soap, and between the cold soap-scrap and the melted soap, and yet not in the body of the melted soap; the use of steam-jets blowing downward upon the lower coils to keep them at all times clear and free from incrustations to get the full benet of their heat for drying and evaporating the moisture from the melted soap, and to rapidly force the melted soap from the vessel g` the escape of the steam, after doing its work, along with the melted soap,but not condensed in it as water, and the superior quality of the iinished soap,which is free from excess of water, the soap being dried by the lower coils, instead of being melted thereby, as formerly was done.

It is evident that other arrangementsof apparatus than that above described may be employed in carrying out my invention-as, for instance, the jets of steam may be caused to issue from pipes arranged separate from the tubular grating H Land so as to direct the steam-jets on the lower coils, E, or E F, substantially in the manner above described; but the grating as shown combines in a very sim'- ple arrangement a support for the soap-scrap, a heater to help melt the scrap, and the nozzles through which the steam-jets issue upon the lower coils and the melted soap.

When the work of -melting the soap-scrap is nished, the vessel A and its interior pipecoils may quickly and thoroughly be cleaned by continuing for a time the steam-discharge from the orifices 1J, as will readily be understood.

IOO

Although I have herein more particularly .v l

claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A soap-remelting apparatus containing the following elements, namely: a suitable vessel containing in its upper part a suitable support or holder for the soap-scrap, a system of steam-j et pipes under the support or holder, and a steam-heating coil below the jet-pipes, said parts being constructed to operate substantially as described.

2. In a soap-remelting apparatus, a support or holder for the soap-scrap, consisting of horizontal tubular coils crossing eaeh other to 'form a grating, as set forth.

3. In a soap-reinelting apparatus, a soap support or holder and a series of steam-jet pipes constructed and combined substantially as described, consisting of a continuous double or compound grating made of tubes with suitable interstioes and orifices, as set forth.

4. In a soap-remelting apparatus, a soapscrap support or holder consisting of the horizontal tubular eoiis H I, crossing eaeh other to form a grating, and the lower coil, I, being perforated, as at i, substantially as shown and described.

5. In a soap-renielting vessel, the combina tion, with a heating-Coil in the lower part of the vessel, of steam-jet pipes above the heatingooil, substantially as described, whereby 2o the soap will be melted by Contact with open steam and then delivered to the heating-coil for further treatment, and at the saine time jets of steam will impinge upon the heatingeoil to clear the same, as set forth.

6. In a soap-remelting vessel, the Combination, with a heating-coil in the lower part of the Vessel, oi'a soap-holder and steam-jet pipes above the heating-coil, substantially as and for the purposes shown and described.

JOHN C. RALSTON.

Vitnesses:

EDWARD H. RHoADEs, ELrsHA B. SOUTHARD. 

